ICD-10 Delay Doesn't Address Procedural Hurdles, Critics Say

"Also we as providers are so reliant on our software vendors and those folks, the practice management systems vendors, are not covered entities under HIPAA," he says. "What we would like to see happen is a certification process so there would be some guarantee that the software could handle the new codes and so we are going to be advocating for that."

MGMA's Tennant says he's not convinced that ICD-10 is needed in physician practices and he complained about "a lot of misinformation" on ICD-10 implementation from advocates for the code set.

"The standard line is we are the last country on earth to use this code set when the truth is no country uses this code set," he says. "The main countries that are cited, Germany, Australia and Canada, none of these three implement ICD-10 on the physician side. They only did it on the hospital side. I think the jury is still out on whether or not it is appropriate even to implement it on the physician side. There has to be more study done."